This Girl Can returns to our screens

Nationwide campaign to get women and girls moving, regardless of shape, size and ability, returns to inspire more women

24 February 2017

The new advert – which launches online at midday and hits television screens during the ad break of Coronation Street tonight – sees a range of new and returning faces, new messages and hard-hitting mantras to prompt a change in attitudes and help boost women’s confidence.

Staying true to its original formula of showing real women and girls playing sport and getting active, the message is clear: it’s OK to sweat, it’s OK to jiggle, it’s OK not to be brilliant (or to be brilliant) and it’s normal for life to get in the way sometimes.

Watch the new film below

Our ambition is still about empowering women and breaking down the barriers that are stopping women and girls getting active – and we're now widening our scope to target women aged from 14 up to 60 and beyond.

New artwork and phrases for the second wave of the campaign, including “Unleash your inner beginner”, “A kick right in the stereotypes” and ‘’Take me as I am or watch me as I go’’, have been splashed across billboards and shopping centres up and down the country in recent weeks.

I’m a woman, phenomenally

The mantras speak directly to fears and worries women have surrounding sport and physical activity, such as not being good enough, or overcoming stereotypes about what women should or shouldn’t do.

The second wave responds to what we’ve learned about what does and doesn't motivate women to get involved in physical activity since the original campaign launched two years ago.

We’ll be showing women that it doesn’t matter if you become active, stop, and then start again or do something different – it’s a normal process and a part of life.

Set to a new soundtrack by Beth Ditto blended with a narrative by the iconic poet, Maya Angelou, the new advert sees familiar faces from the original advert, Grace and Alice, return and continue their story.

Some of the other personal stories brought to life in the film include new mum Stephanie Outlaw, 69-year-old outdoor swimmer Sue Bairstow, student kickboxer Fakhira Mohamad Hassan Mukhtar and blade-runner Debbie Squance from Plymouth, who all show the ways they overcome the worries that can hold women back.

Jennie Price, Sport England chief executive, said: “This Girl Can has made a real difference since it launched, with the number of women doing regular physical activity and sport now at an all-time high. But there’s a lot more to do.

“Our research showed the dialogue many of us have in our heads about whether we look OK, whether we are good enough, whether we belong here doesn’t go away - we just learn to manage it.

A new message this time is something women don’t usually hear: it’s OK to take a break, to have a week off, to walk not run

Jennie Price, chief executive, Sport England

“A new message this time is something women don’t usually hear: it’s OK to take a break, to have a week off, to walk not run. Nobody is saying this to us.

“Many of the women we’ve featured talk about stopping, then starting again. It can feel like the hardest thing in the world to return after a few weeks off, when you fear you’ve lost ground or fitness, but we want to surface this as a discussion point, to say it’s normal to take a break, but that needn’t stop you for good.’’

Women from all over can pledge their support and capture their own This Girl Can mantra image for social media using the web-based app (only on mobile devices).

Changing behaviour

This Girl Can was the first campaign of its kind to celebrate women of all shapes, sizes and levels of ability getting active in all their sweaty, jiggly glory.

The results have been remarkable since the first wave at the start of 2015.

2.8mwomen more active thanks to This Girl Can

The original campaign received over 95 million views and 733,000 mentions across social media. The campaign created a very large and active social community, with 581,000 followers across all platforms and over 1.2 million visits to the website.

Most importantly, This Girl Can is changing behaviour.

More women and girls are now active as a result of This Girl Can – 2.8 million women have been more active as a result of seeing the campaign. The number of women playing sport and getting active once a week, every week, has also increased by 250,000 since we launched the campaign.

This Girl Can is funded thanks to Lottery players and Arabella Gilchrist, head of brand for The National Lottery, said: “We’re incredibly proud of our association with the This Girl Can and especially the impact it has had on British women over the past 12 months – to be able to say that funds raised by National Lottery players are enabling the next phase fills us with immense pride.”

Find out more

Go to This Girl Can to find out about the women in the campaign, get tips on how to get active and join the national debate

Pledge your support and capture your own This Girl Can mantra image for social media using the web-based app

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